Shade-fixture.



No. 810,279. PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

` C. L. HOPKINS.

SHADE FIXTURE.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT.29. 1903.

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UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

CHARLES L HOPKINS, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE CURTAIN SUPPLY COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW J ERSEY, A COR- PORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SHADE-FIXTURE No. &10,279.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

TO all whont it may conccrn:

Be it known that I, OHARLEs L. HoPKINs, a citizen of United States, residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shade-Fixtures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in shade-fixtures of that class wherein a shadestick carried by the shade is'provided with spring-pressed shoes at its ends moving in grooves at the sides of the window. In devices of this general class the principal difliculty to be overcome is that of making the device capable of maintaining itself in a horizontal position when carelessly or unskilfully manipulated or of returning to such a position after being forced into an inclined position and thus left. In these shade-fixtures various means have been employed for effecting this result. T he devices which have thus far comeinto commercial use most largely are provided with contact-points of unequal frietional holding power so arranged that a point of greater frictional holding power normally contacts with the' window-frame; but when the' device is moved into an inclined position a point of less frictional holding power may engage the window-frame, and the point of greater frictional holding power will be withdrawn from frictional contact.

The device herein described, and shown in the accompanying drawings, accomplishes the desirable results of self-alinement and selfrighting in a somewhat similar manner as the devices just described, but depends upon a different principle and is very simple in construction, the objects of this invention being to provide a device of this class which may have the desirable features of the devices in use, but which consists of but few parts and i those not liable to get out of order.

The principle upon which this shade-fixture operates may be briefiy stated as follows: The side post of the window-frame is provided with a plurality of contacting surfaces, against which the shoe at the end of the stick may bear, each of these contacting surfaces being holding power; but when the device is inclined the shoe will contact with a surface eX- erting less holding power upon the shoe, whereby the device may right itself.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, Figure 1 is a View of a window-frame, parts of which are broken away, having a shade mounted therein provided with my improved shade-fixture. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line w w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section of the window-frame on the line y y of Fig. 1. Fg. 4: is a broken view, partly in section, of one corner of the shade and one end of the shade-fixture. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the device looking at the end of the same or toward the shade. line o o of Figs. 1 and 4 looking downwardly and showing the end of the shade-fixture in elevation. Fig. 7 is a view of one corner of the shade and one end of the shade-fixture, parts being in section, showing the action of the device When the stick is tilted or inclined. Fig. 8 shows a modification, and Fig. 9 an end view, of the same.

In the drawings, 10 is the window-frame, having the grooves 11 in the side osts thereof. Mounted on the spring shade-roller 12 is the shade 13, having the usual pocket 13' formed at its lower edge. Within this pocket is the tubular stick 14. At each end of the stick- Fig. 6 is a section on the 14 is the shoe 15, which moves in the groove 11 and is thrust outwardly or toward the end of the stick by the spring 16. The shoe 15 is provided with three contact-blocks 17 17,, and 17 which are Secured within the shoe and project slightly therefrom, the projecting parts being rounded. Within the groove 11 in the side post of the window-frame 10 I preferably place a narrow strip 18 of thin leather, rubber fabric, or other yielding material, securing this strip 18 to the bottom of the groove with cement or other suitable means, the width of this strip 18 being about one-half the width of the bottom of the groove. This is clearly shown in Figs.- 2, 3, and 6. The bottom of the groove 11 is thus made to have two contactingsurfaces, onebeing of the material of the window-frame, which is usually of wood, the other of some yielding material and slightly raised above the harder surface.

By reference to Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 it will be seen that the contact-blocks 17 17 and 17 c have their faces cut away, so that the IOO parts which project from the shoe are less than one-half the width of these blocks. These blocks 17 17, and 17 C are so placed in the shoe 15 that the rounded contacting surface of the middle block 17 is at one side of the shoe, while the similar contacting surfaces of the blocks 17* and 17 at the ends of the shoe are at the other side of the shoe. Now when the shoe is in place in its groove the middle block 17 b will contact with the strip of yielding material 18 and the other blocks 17 a and 17 will not contact with anything while the device is in the position shown in Figs. l and 4. When, however, the device is tilted, one of the end blocks will contact with the hard unyielding surface of the bottom of the groove, as shown in Fig. 7, in which the block 17 is in contact with its opposing surface and the middle block 17 will be withdrawn from contact with the strip of yielding material. As the friction between a block and the bottom of the groove is much less than that between a block and the strip 18, the shoe may slide along the groove without much friction when it is drawn down by one end and may right itself when released.

A modification of this device is shown in Figs. 8 and 9, in which this principle of providing the bottom of the groove with contacting surfaces having unlike resiliency is employed in a slightly different mechanical'construction. It is well known that a wheel will roll on a hard unyielding surface with greater freedom than on a soft yielding surface, into which the wheel may sink. In the device shown in these figures the wheels l9 19, and 19 are of larger diameter at one side that at the other and are so placed in the shoe 15' that the middle wheel 19 will normally roll on the strip 18 of yielding material, and an end wheel 19 or 19 may roll along the hard bottom of the groove when the stick is tilted.

I claim 1. In a shade-fixture, the combination with a spring-actuated shade, of a stick carried by the shade, shoes at the ends of the stick, a groove adjacent to the shade forming a guideway for the shoe, a yielding surface within the groove with which the shoe normally contacts, and a harder surface adjacent to the yielding surface with which the shoe may contact when the shade-fixture is tilted, for the purpose set forth.

2. In a shade-fixture, the combination with a shade, of a stick carried by the shade, an elongated, spring-pressed shoe at the end of the stick having a plurality of contact-points, a side post adjacent to the shade having a plurality of friction-surfaces of unlike frictional holding power, one of the contact-points of the shoe normally engaging a friction-surface having greater frictional holding power and one or more contact-points adapted to engage a friction-surface having less frictional holding power when the shade-fixture is tilted, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a shade-fixture, the combination with the shade, of a stick carried by the shade, a shoe carried by the stick, a window-fra'me adjacent to the shoe, a frictional holding-surface upon the window-frame with which the shoe normally engages, and another surface upon the window-frarne having less holding power upon the shoe than the first-named holdingsurface and with which the shoe may engage when the shade-fixture is inclined.

4. In a shade-fixture, the combination with the shade and a stick carried thereby, of a shoe at the end of the stick, a plurality of opposing surfaces adjacent' to the shoe with which the shoe may engage, said surfaces having unequal holding power upon the head, and said shoe, when in contact with either of said surfaces, being movable in both directions over the latter for the purpose set forth.

5. In a shade-fixture, the combination with the shade and a stick carried thereby, of shoes at the ends of the stick, a plurality of opposing surfaces adjacent to a shoe having unlike holding power, the shoe normally Contacting only with an opposing surface having greater holding power but Contacting with an opposing .surface having less holding power when the fixture is tilted, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES L. HOPKINS.

Witnesses:

J. J. FLAHERTY, R. J. CRAIG. 

